Jeff Canham‘s typographic compositions are like tidal waves of cool; they’re like the Mavericks of type. His use of icons with a variety of type styles give the work excitement, depth, and sophistication. I love the sign painted feel and texture of the work, as well as the color palettes.

The passing of Arthur Erickson last week was as devastating as the demise of his masterpiece, the Graham House, in 2007. Yet the world still continues to be enamored and inspired by his modernist works, particularly his early projects such as the Smith House, the Hilborn House and the Fire Island House to name a few.

Chris Bettig runs a studio out of his home in Los Angeles, CA called The Mountain Label. He has an impressive amount of work consisting of laser etched wood, collages, paintings, and lovely prints. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting with him. In today’s Grain’s Eye View, Chris gives us some handy advice on collecting and an interesting glimpse into the future.

Anyone have 2.3 million dollars I can borrow? The mid-century modern home featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is now for sale. If we all chip in $5 we might be able buy this house in 10 years. Maybe they accept trades? I hope the red 1961 Ferrari 250 GTO comes with the house.

Vacation home designed by Bay Area architect Henrik Bull – illustration by Bob Wandesforde

The image above is from a promotional booklet entitled Second homes for leisure living. The booklet was produced by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association and features floor plans and dimensions for 18 vacation homes built with fir plywood. Included are plans for homes designed by modern architects such as George Matsumoto, Frederick Liebhardt, David George and Henrik Bull.

What is this graph measuring? Stalagmite height? Point source density? Christmas tree farm growth? We don’t know, but they sure do look good. Chad Hagen has made a great collection of “Nonsense Info Graphics” and put them in a set on his Flickr.

Typografische Monatsblätter is a Swiss magazine that focuses on typography and photography. Over the years the magazine has played host to an all star cast of contributors including: Herbert Matter, Emil Ruder, Max Caflisch, Wolfgang Weingart, Jan Tschichold, Adrian Frutiger, Jost Hochuli, Walter Cyliax, Helmut Schmidt, Atelier Eidenbenz, Hans Rudolf Lutz and many others. Flickr user Berlintypes has assembled an amazing collection of these magazines from the 1950s -1990s. Enjoy them all here.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Check out this lovely poster created by London based illustrator Natsko Seki!

In this piece, Seki combines hand drawn elements with intricate details of collage. I love that the bright primary colors are platforms for the bevy of performers, including busy cyclists and trumpet tooting trained seals. She really captures the magic and enthusiasm of the circus with the layered composition, all of which remind me of Boniface’s Holiday by Russian animator Fyodor Khitruk. Did you happen to see the bear on the bicycle?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any stamps, so I figured it’s time. This stamp commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Alliance Cooperative Internationale. It was issued on the 27th of June, 1970 and was designed by J.Malvaux.

Soundscreen Design is a product design company inspired by music. They are curating, manufacturing and distributing a line of t-shirts, hoodies and tote bags featuring artists’ iconic interpretations of the phrase “Vinyl is Forever”. Inspired by iconic visual slogans such as “I (heart) NY” and “Virginia is for Lovers”, and referencing music obsessives’ everlasting love of vinyl records, the series will appeal to music, art and fashion fans alike. For avid music fans, vinyl has become both the format of preference as well as a badge of honor. The wearables are designed to be a badge they can wear proudly.

I’m really impressed with these typographic treatments from Paul Sych. Each one of them is totally sublime and refreshingly unique — they break out nicely from the common type trends going around. On one hand the work is very playful and expressive, but on the other hand also demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge and expertise of the letterforms.

If your in the L.A area, Gallery Nucleus is throwing a party for the release of the second installment of the Ancient Book Series “THE ANCIENT BOOK OF SEX AND SCIENCE”. The show will run from 7pm to 11pm with all artwork for sale, and all the artists (Nate Wragg, Lou Romano, Don Shank and Scott Morse) will be on hand at the gallery the whole night. The book will be available for $20 dollars, and there will also be some new prints for sale as well. I have the first book in the series and it’s really good.

Thanks to Greg Bennett of WORKtoDATE for sending us this poster he created for the So-Cal Fire Poster Project. The destruction of the wildfires is portrayed by physically making, photographing and then compositing various textures such as burnt paper, water stains, ash and grit. The poster is for available for purchase here. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be given to the Salvation Army, for the 2007 California Wildfire fund.

Los Angeles based artist, Christopher Bettig, created this neatly abstracted tree for GRSF’s Tree Show V. I really enjoy the cool analogous colors paired with the varied stacked geometric shapes. This piece has a nice overall balance with its symmetrical design, and totally reminds me of the geometry found on the exterior of the Mary Blair designed “It’s a Small World” ride.

We tallied the votes in our Loto de Socorrismo caption writing contest and #5 is the winner! Congratulations to Emily D ! She will be receiving a hard to find kid’s book that we will soon be featuring on grain edit.

Stunning poster by Anna Monika Jost. I’m guessing all the circular shapes are either gumball’s or typewriter keys. I’m betting on the later (secretly wishing it’s the gumballs though). I wonder if all the letters and numbers spell out some sort of code. Wait a minute, Olivetti is in Italy. Maybe its a code prediciting the release date of the Davinci code part 15 starring Tom Hank’s son. Whoops, sorry I got sidetracked. Back to Jost. Anyone have any info on her? I couldn’t find much online.

In our previous post on the kid’s board game Loto de Socorrismo we asked our readers to create captions for the images. We’ve selected our five favorite captions, but we need your help in picking our winner. Please list your favorite caption (only pick 1) in the comments. The caption with the most votes by Tues May 12th, 2009 5pm PST wins!

I remember getting Slinkys around the holidays and thinking “Awesome! I can’t wait to work the stairs with this!” Then, within an hour (without fail) the poor Slinky would be stepped on, kinked, and forever ruined. And the cycle would repeat a year later.

This sans-kink typeface, Slinkytype, from Paul Hollingworth brings me back to those exciting stairs-filled days. I love how the playfulness mixes with precise geometric details — the perfect combination of typography and nostalgia. And that white type on black is super snappy.

I’m fascinated by this turntable designed by Teenage Engineering. It’s lightweight/portable and the whole unit is made out of high density Styrofoam (even the tonearm). I could really use one of these on my record digging trips. Unfortunately it will not be produced and only one unit was built for research purpose.

Continuing with our poster pick series we’ve selected this eye-catching, Mogwai concert poster designed by Methane Studios. I really like the bold use of color and all the geometric patterns that take form. The coloring reminds me a bit of the Technicolor logo (a favorite) used in old film posters. I’m also diggin’ the form of the type and the contrasting background.

Methane hails from Atlanta , GA and was formed by artists Mark McDevitt and Robert Lee. The pair have been designing screen printed posters since 1998 for a variety of US and foreign bands such as Pearl Jam, Wilco, and Dave Matthews Band to name a few.

What a scrumptious illustration by Finnish illustrator and designer, Maija Louekari! She has a sensational eye for bright punchy colors, geometric forms and patterns, as well as fine lines. Louekari won a design competition staged by the Univeristy of Art and Design Helsinki and the iconic textile and clothing designer Marimekko in 2003.

Really beautiful work by Almir Da Silva Mavignier. He was born (1925) in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and later studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm under Max Bill. In additon to his graphic design work he was also an accomplished painter.

Simon Cook (aka Cookie) is a designer, illustrator, sock monster maker, occasional traveler, and super hiker. His work is packed to the gills with fun. I love looking at a designer’s portfolio and seeing their personality and excitement evident in the work. You definitely get the feeling that he puts everything he has into whatever project he’s got in front of him.